how can i disable the search button WINDOWS PHONE 8

[dookie dave]

on my HTC 8x, the search button is really annoying... i cant use my phone with 1 hand because every time i do and try to tap something high up, my search button gets touched by my palm and goes to bing... its happened like 20 times already in 1 day and its annoying as a mother...

can i disable it somehow?

Microsoft should make the OS to where the search button only works when i'm on my home screen and apps list screen. so if i'm browsing 1 handed, trying to make a call, or texting, hitting the search button with my palm wouldn't trigger anything.

that would be much better because im pretty sure people are having this problem too...

until microsoft does something like that, does anyone know how to disable it?

 

[contributorM]

Aye. Same here on mg Lumia 920. I've turned the sensitivity to normal and the same search button still triggers. **** if I look at the search button wrong, it goes off smh.

 

[kevin2577]

No, sorry, it does take some getting used to on how to best hold your phone and not activate the search button, but you do get used to it and it can actually be quite useful. If you want to disable it in certain games, you can do so by adding those games to Kids Corner and playing them there, but otherwise it cannot be disabled

 

[dookie dave]

Aye. Same here on mg Lumia 920. I've turned the sensitivity to normal and the same search button still triggers. **** if I look at the search button wrong, it goes off smh.

yeah its pretty dam annoying...

 

[mooney79]

I have the same problem.
Sent from my HTC6990LVW using Board Express

 

[Dave Blake]

This cant be disabled sorry. I guess you could put a small piece of tape over the button that might work to keep you from pressing it.

 

[Jonas Jonsson]

I had the same problem with my Lumia 800 a year ago, it never happens nowadays. You'll get used to it after a short time.

 

[somethungquixk]

Okay I have got so annoyed with this issue that I had to comment... (after signing in I found I could not reply on this website on my phone, so back to using the laptop.. epic fail before I begin....)

I've been trying to find ways around the annoying and useless Bing Button on the phone, but before I start about 'Why I don't need Bing' in my life lets first look at ....... "your holding the phone wrong"

How insulting is that, does Microsoft really think that poorly of their 'CUSTOMERS' that they refuse to listen or worse still encourage users to 'learn how to hold the phone correctly'.... It's a phone.. it's a torch, it's a mobile computer, it's many things.. but perhaps Microsoft should think about the users of their products and weather they are likely to continue to be when it's time to upgrade to a better handset... (i'm thinking Samsung).

I'm stuck on a ?35 per month contract for this phone, which on the whole I do really like... however imposing the search button which persistently gets in the way of what I and many others use there phones for is downright intolerable.

Then, just to make it worse where's the option to .. 'change the search provider?' Surely Microsoft are trying to force a monopoly again... I don't use Bing at all in the real world and the relevance of Bing searches or the inferior maps on this phone is non existent for me here in the UK.

I have a google app, which works well - I would really like to see that when I accidentally press the search button while picking up my phone, picking my nose - or one of the many other occasions Bing insists on appearing in my life.

From further digging I did find a ray of hope, an option to change which search engine appears when the buttons pressed, however that would seem to have either been an elaborate hoax, or something that got removed in a mango update....

Changing browser to something more usefull like Mozilla Firefox, has also turned into a dead duck, aparantly they did not like the terms and conditions imposed upon them, so they dumped the project half way and decided to create an alternative operating system instead.

For now I will stick with this phone as it's all I have, but the future to me would seem to be leaning towards a cunning fox, rather then putting up with the last gasp of what seems to me to be a doomed Microsoft.....

Relevance for me at work is shifting to Linux, at home Windows is still king, but the end is in sight, not long till I can put this phone on ebay, or do with it what I did to my old blackberry, and pop it in the microwave.

So come on Microsoft, I've been using your software since Dr Dos, do something right and think about the wants and needs of your customers, before we all loose interest in an otherwise great mobile platform and look into the Galaxy for something better.

 

[o0Nighthawk0o]

Umm, Dr DOS was an IBM product not Microsoft. Just saying.

Get the WP Central app and you would have no problems replying.

Bing search is hardly useless. Not only does it give better results than Google it also gives points redeemable for gift cards. But the biggest plus is: IT'S NOT GOOGLE.

If you don't like Bing maps then why not try Here Maps? Or Here Drive?

Don't forget to put an anti virus on that Galaxy. Right after you root it, flash it and spend hours/days getting to run somewhat acceptably

 

[Darren Walsh]

Umm, Dr DOS was an IBM product not Microsoft. Just saying.

Get the WP Central app and you would have no problems replying.

Bing search is hardly useless. Not only does it give better results than Google it also gives points redeemable for gift cards. But the biggest plus is: IT'S NOT GOOGLE.

If you don't like Bing maps then why not try Here Maps? Or Here Drive?

Don't forget to put an anti virus on that Galaxy. Right after you root it, flash it and spend hours/days getting to run somewhat acceptably

 

[Darren Walsh]

Well said lol !!

 

[rysliv]

I use it quite a lot, I wouldn't bother getting rid of it.

 

[Darren Walsh]

It's dead handy for when you don't know what song is playing, much more convenient than shazam!!

 

[somethungquixk]

Sorry the DR Dos comment was a dig...

I'll get to the WP Central App right away, thanks for the heads up.

As for the Galaxy, your right though I am interested to See Firefox OS on one soon..

Personally I find the HTC 8x an amazingly brilliant phone most of the time, HERE maps I use all the time, is a great app, many improvements from HERE Drive Beta.. Which was great but a tad buggy being Beta..

I can live with the poor battery life from this power hungry beast until pocket sized Hydrogen cells are available, but all I ask is to be allowed to configure my own device the way I want it and not be dictated to as Bing is not for me.

Freedom of choice, personalisation, expression.

 

[link68759]

The real problem that you all have overlooked is capacitive buttons are a terrible gimmick and really don't work very well. If we had some real buttons on our phones, this wouldn't be an issue.
Sent from my RM-824_nam_att_101 using Board Express

 

[ShocWave]

I remember touching the search button a few times when I first started using my Samsung Focus. After a month or so, I don't recall ever hitting by accident anymore.
Even on my Samsung Ativ S, where the top of the screen is harder to reach with my small hands.

But yeah, capacitive buttons suck. But all phones use them nowadays, not just WP, but Android as well.

 

[metalchick719]

My boyfriend always seems to activate Bing Search whenever he grabs my 920 to play games on it... He's heavy handed and claims he DIDN'T press the search button. lol

 

[qudahamohammad]

Google is certainly more useful to the public, googling things such as "meaning of..." or "*insert name*'s age" are way faster and interactive than binging them. here's an example:

I googled and binged "Lady Gaga's age" and here is what I got:



clearly the desktop version of Google is more clear to the user, it also includes the artist's music, age, height, real name and similar artists but Bing is no use, you have to dig into all these websites.

The mobile versions is no exceptions. Bing has no "news" tab, so if the thing that you are searching for has no recent news, news section doesn't show. Bing 'California Gurls' (pop song) on your devices, news results? nah.

I know this post is off topic but I'm really citing the issue of how Bing is useless for users, the search button also irritates me sometimes but it's not a big of a deal. I just press the back button and continue with whatever I was doing.

 

[Dave Blake]

Google is certainly more useful to the public, googling things such as "meaning of..." or "*insert name*'s age" are way faster and interactive than binging them. here's an example:

I googled and binged "Lady Gaga's age" and here is what I got:
View attachment 38092
View attachment 38093

clearly the desktop version of Google is more clear to the user, it also includes the artist's music, age, height, real name and similar artists but Bing is no use, you have to dig into all these websites.

The mobile versions is no exceptions. Bing has no "news" tab, so if the thing that you are searching for has no recent news, news section doesn't show. Bing 'California Gurls' (pop song) on your devices, news results? nah.

I know this post is off topic but I'm really citing the issue of how Bing is useless for users, the search button also irritates me sometimes but it's not a big of a deal. I just press the back button and continue with whatever I was doing.

I don't to see the relvince in this thread. I think you are not understanding what we are discussing here.

 

[qudahamohammad]

I don't to see the relvince in this thread. I think you are not understanding what we are discussing here.

yeah of course it is irrelevant but my post focuses on why we should have an option to choose which search engine we like to open when clicking the magnifying glass button.